


Catitude

by Salamandriod



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Cats, Fluff, M/M, Tiger Sebastian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 08:43:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5620609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salamandriod/pseuds/Salamandriod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim gets a cat and Sebastian earns a few more stripes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catitude

The moment Sebastian stepped into the flat he could tell that something was _wrong_. Jim wasn’t alone in the flat, and judging by the lack of scent of blood, it wasn’t someone dangerous. The knowledge didn’t put him at ease. If anything it made him more worried, since he knew that he could take out an intruder without much problem. A guest of here on Jim’s permission? That made him worried. Jim was had been faithful thus far, but he’d also been gone in Ukraine for the past three weeks.

 

For once, he hated how his tiger half heightened his senses even in his human form. If he weren’t a shape shifter, he could pretend that nothing was wrong. Instead, he had to suffer with his thoughts.

 

Immediately he dropped his rifle case to the ground and padded into the flat. He headed directly towards the study without saying so much as a word, knowing that Jim would be there without even needing his nose to lead him there. He didn’t bother knocking on the door, he knew that Jim would have heard him already. The scent of the intruder was growing stronger by the moment as he approached the Jim, sitting in his chair as though nothing was wrong at all. He didn’t want to believe that he was the source of the scent, but that was what he’d been led to believe thus far.

 

“Jim,” he started, his voice practically a growl.

 

Before he could say anything more, Jim finally looked up from his laptop, giving him a smirk before rolling his chair back slightly. Sebastian glanced down, terrified that he’d see some stranger sitting between the other’s knees. There wasn’t, fortunately, just a cat laying on his lap. He returned his attention back to Jim’s face, then immediately did a double take back to his lap.

 

A cat. The other scent that he’d picked up was a damn cat. “What the fuck, Jim?” he snapped, stepping around the desk to grab his shoulder. “We’re supposed to talk about things before making significant changes, like getting a fucking pet!”

 

Jim smiled sheepishly at Sebastian in response, letting his hand fall to start stroking the cat’s long fur. “What can I say? I saw her at the shelter and I couldn’t just leave her there. She was just too beautiful, and I thought you two would match. And training a house cat is far easier than training a tiger cub,” he replied casually. He hesitated for a moment before adding, “Besides, I was a tad lonely with you gone.” To cover his sentimental words, he lifted Andromeda up and pressed a kiss to her head.

 

Sebastian softened slightly at Jim’s words, not quite having expected something so heartfelt from him. He watched the two for a moment, how the cat pressed into Jim’s touches and meowed for more attention. If it already loved him so much already, surely it couldn’t be so bad once he got used to her. He sighed, relenting. “I guess she can stay. Just, why didn’t you even warn me? You must have known I’d smell her before anything else,” he asked.

 

“Oh, I had to entertain myself somehow. You’re rather amusing when you’re on the prowl,” Jim retorted, a devious smirk splitting his face.

 

“You insufferable arse,” Sebastian grunted, rolling his eyes. His voice lacked any malice, though, and after a moment he leaned in to press a chaste kiss to Jim’s temple. He pulled back and let his hand slip from Jim’s shoulder to the cat lounging in his lap. The cat sniffed at his finger for a moment, then reached a paw out and clawed him. He pulled he hand back with a yelp, immediately inspecting the wounded digit for blood.

 

“Andromeda!” Jim scolded, lifting the cat up again to look at her in the face. “Don’t you hurt Sebastian like that.” For her part, Andromeda just turned her head towards Sebastian, looking just as smug as ever.

 

Sebastian returned her smug look with a scowl of his own. Perhaps he’d been wrong, perhaps having a housecat around would be more trouble than it was worth. Still, he had to at least try and get along, for Jim’s sake. He did seem attached to her already, and with the way she was meowing and pressing herself into Jim she wouldn’t take well to being separated either.

 

With a sigh, he wriggled his scratched finger at the cat in warning. Before she could claw at it again he drew it away and turned his attention back to Jim. “I hope you have a plan for making us get along,” he hummed lowly.

 

“As a last resort, I could always just cover you in a dusting of catnip and let you two enjoy yourselves,” Jim drawled, smirking. He leaned up and snatched a kiss from Sebastian’s lips before the man could reply.

 

At the kiss, Sebastian couldn’t help but to relax, even knowing that their new little hellcat was between them. “I’ll behave,” he said at last, just barely mumbled against Jim’s lips. He lingered there for a few more moments before completely pulling away. “Anything in particular you want for dinner?”

 

Jim shook his head and rolled his chair back in to his desk, one hand still in Andromeda’s fur. “Order whatever you like. I’m sure anything will be welcome after freezing in Ukraine for three weeks.”

 

“Don’t need to tell me twice.” With that, Sebastian turned and left the study to unpack and settle back in.

 

* * *

 

 

“Come on, cat,” Sebastian grunted, waving the treat just out of reach of Andromeda’s paws. Andromeda just kept rubbing her cheek on Jim’s knee, completely ignoring him and the treat. The three of them were sitting on the floor of Jim’s study, trying to tempt Andromeda into being the least bit affectionate towards Sebastian. It wasn’t going well, to say the least.

 

“Maybe she’d react better to you if you actually used her name,” Jim replied. He lifted a hand to scratch her ears, then tried to nudge her in Sebastian’s direction. “Come on, honey, for me?” he cooed.

 

Andromeda, predictably, just hopped in Jim’s lap and curled up, purring.

 

“It doesn’t matter what I call her, she hates me,” Sebastian retorted sharply. Within the week and a half that he’d been back home, relations with Andromeda hadn’t gotten any better. If anything, they’d probably gotten worse, judging by the collection of cuts that now decorated his forearms. With a sigh, he tossed the treat to Jim. “You try.”

 

Jim caught the treat and shot Sebastian a flat glare, clearly displeased at the lack of effort he was putting into getting along. He offered the treat to Andromeda, and as expected, she scarfed it down. She gave Jim’s fingers a few licks to ensure that there were no crumbs left, then started grooming herself.

 

“See?” Sebastian snapped. He leaned back against the wall, letting his head bounce against it with a small thud. “She hates me. I ought to show her the strength of a real cat-“

 

“Sebastian!”

 

He lifted his hands into the air defensively. “You know I wouldn’t hurt her, Jim. Just snarl a bit and bat her around with one of my paws. She’ll respect me then.”

 

“It’s not happening. You still might injure her without meaning too, or you’ll just scare her. Then she’ll never want to be friendly with you.”

 

Sebastian thought for a long moment, trying to think of something to assure Jim that neither of those would happen, but he couldn’t. “Fine, no tiger, not yet. I still don’t think we’ll get along, though,” he sighed.

 

Jim rolled his eyes and gave Andromeda a few more pats. “Just try, for me,” he said softly.

 

Seeing Jim still hopeful that they could get along softened Sebastian slightly. “I promise, I’m trying,” he assured. He leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to Jim’s lips.

 

It was sweet, or at least it would have been, as Andromeda not decided to reach out and claw Sebastian’s hand where it rested on Jim’s knee.

 

He pulled back with a shout, immediately pulling his hand out of the cat’s reach and inspecting it for blood. “Fucking little demon,” he growled, glaring at Andromeda.

 

She just meowed in response, then rubbed her cheek against Jim’s chest, causing him to burst out laughing.

 

Sebastian pouted at the two of them, defeated. He pushed himself up off the ground and retreated out to the kitchen to start dinner, grumbling all the while.

 

* * *

 

 

Anytime Sebastian tried to get along with Andromeda, the damned cat always found some way to ignore him. Whether it was ignoring any of the food he put down until Jim touched it, or clawing and biting him if he so much as came near her.

 

It was tiring, and quite frankly, Sebastian was getting fed up with it.

 

The worst part was that Andromeda seemed practically glued to Jim’s side. No matter if they were lounging together on the sofa or in bed, she was right there by Jim. She’d even dragged her bed into his study so that she could keep an eye on him while he worked.

 

Sebastian’s only reprieve from the little furry monster was when he and Jim were having sex. Whoever was last to the bedroom had to make sure that the door was closed, since neither of them really wanted to be interrupted. This time, though they were both a little distracted.

 

Sebastian carried Jim into the bedroom, trying to keep his eyes on their destination while simultaneously trying to smother Jim in as many kisses as he could. He kicked the door closed as best as he could, but he had more important things to focus on than making sure that no cats could get in.

 

They collapsed together into bed and immediately stripped each other down, too eager to get to the other’s skin. After some foreplay and some debate as to who would top, Sebastian pressed his cock into Jim, enjoying every little moan that escaped the other’s mouth.

 

“Sebastian,” Jim groaned, giving him a little nudge.

 

He just grunted and bit down on Jim’s shoulder, trying to get him to moan again.

 

“ _Sebastian_ ,” Jim repeated, a bit more urgently.

 

Sebastian lifted his head as though to speak, but before a word could get out of his mouth, a weight landed on his back and sharp claws sunk into his skin. He yowled and practically jumped off of Jim, trying to throw Andromeda off.

 

The cat, of course, elegantly leapt off of Sebastian’s back and onto the bed. She went immediately to Jim’s side, purring and rubbing against him like she’d saved him from a monster.

 

“You didn’t close the door,” Jim said after a moment, slightly out of breath.

 

“Yeah, thanks for the warning,” he grumbled.

 

“Hey, I tried-“

 

“I know, _I know_ ,” Sebastian replied defensively. He took a deep breath to calm himself and paced around the room slightly. “This isn’t working. She hates me.”

 

“She doesn’t hate you, Sebastian. She just needs more time.”

 

“You’ve seen how she reacts to me and you still think she just needs more time? Don’t be ridiculous.”

 

Jim sighed and pushed himself into a sitting position on the bed. Andromeda immediately jumped into his lap and curled up, looking utterly pleased with herself. “So what do you suggest we do? I can certainly get enough catnip for you two to share, if you’ll agree to that,” he suggested flatly.

 

Sebastian ran his hands over his face, then crossed over to sit on the edge of the bed. “I don’t think catnip will be a long term solution. I don’t want you to have to give her up, either, so I think the only thing we can do is to just try and tolerate each other,” he replied at last. He kept his gaze down at his hands, not wanting to see the cat looking so smug. “We’ll just remember to keep the door closed next time, and I won’t have anything to do with her unless you’re out of town.”

 

Jim stayed quiet in thought for a moment, then nodded. “For the best, likely. I’d just hoped that both of my cats would get along,” he sighed. He glanced down to Andromeda in his lap and gave her a few scritches to her ears. “Think you can tolerate Sebastian?”

 

Andromeda looked up at Jim and meowed. If the blasted thing hadn’t just clawed his back and interrupted a good shag, Sebastian would have thought it cute.

 

* * *

 

 

Tolerating each other worked well, for the most part it seemed. Sebastian went about his business and Andromeda went about hers, and there was significantly less clawing and biting than before. The only time they really had to interact with each other was when he and Jim were together relaxing. Even then, Andromeda seemed to pick of quickly that if she just laid next to or on Jim’s lap without bothering Sebastian, then he wouldn’t bother her in return.

 

It certainly wasn’t ideal, but it was better than the alternative.

 

The only thing he still had to be careful about was when he shifted. Before he enjoyed prowling the entire flat in his tiger form, but in order to keep from scaring Andromeda he limited himself to shifting only when Jim could keep her occupied in a single room.

 

Jim had been playing with her in the morning, so he took the opportunity to shift into his tiger form and stretch out on the bed, rolling all over the sheets to mark his territory. Once done with that, he leapt off and prowled around the flat, occasionally stopping to rub himself against a corner, if only to pester Andromeda once she and Jim were done.

 

At some point, however, Jim must have finished playing with Andromeda so he could work without Sebastian having heard him. The next thing he knew, she was trotting up to him in the kitchen of her own accord, seemingly curious and unafraid.

 

Wary, Sebastian dropped down and let a low growl start rumbling in his chest, sure that Andromeda was just going to swat at his nose and run off again. To his surprise, she just came closer and gently touched their noses together.

 

The action surprised Sebastian, but he kept himself from pulling away and potentially scaring her off. He did stop growling and let his posture relax, though. He kept himself low to the ground for her sake and carefully stepped forward to sniff at her, letting the both of them sniff each other and get used to their scents.

 

After a few moments of just sniffing each other, Andromeda stepped in and started grooming the part of his paw that she could reach, seemingly unfazed by having a tiger more than ten time her size sniffing at her.

 

Sebastian was shocked, to say the least, but he didn’t dare pull away in case it ruined what seemed to be their only chance to get along. So he ducked his head and started grooming Andromeda, though his larger tongue made it much easier for him to do.

 

Andromeda paused from her grooming to rub her cheek against his. She stood up once she was done and started walking away, only to pause so she could turn back and look at him, as though wondering why he wasn’t following.

 

Curious, and just a bit giddy, Sebastian followed her to the living room and up onto the sofa. He curled up and made himself comfortable, resting his head on a pillow and letting his striped tail dangle over and armrest.

 

As soon as he was comfortable, Andromeda jumped on top of him and circled a few times between his shoulder blades. She laid down after a moment, then started kneading his fur and purring contentedly.

 

Sebastian chuffed in return, pleased that Andromeda seemed to be behaving for once. Perhaps Jim was right, that she really just did need a little more time. It was just that she needed a little more time with Sebastian’s tiger form than anything else.

 

* * *

 

 

“Sebastian?” Jim called as he stepped out of his office a few hours later. “Have you seen Andromeda? She ran off to get some water, and I haven’t seen her since.”

 

There wasn’t a response, which was unusual for Sebastian. He was loyal to a fault, and would always do whatever it took to please Jim.

 

“Sebastian?” he called again, glancing into the bedroom. No Sebastian there. He did see some bright orange fur covering the sheets, and while he knew that he wouldn’t dare harm Andromeda even in his tiger form, he couldn’t help but fear the worst.

 

He wandered out into the living room, and seeing the tiger’s tail draped over the side made his heart pound.

 

“Sebastian?” he asked tentatively, stepping around the sofa to confront the tiger.

 

He hadn’t been expecting two pairs of eyes to stare back at him, one bright green, the other golden. It was a bit hard to distinguish where one cat ended and the other began since the two were both nearly the same shades of orange and brown. The only thing that helped was that Andromeda was a patchy tortoiseshell, like a pile of fall leaves in comparison to Sebastian’s neat stripes.

 

“You fucking morons,” Jim hissed, swatting Sebastian’s snout gently.

 

Sebastian huffed and mewed, low and deep. He felt a small chirp from Andromeda vibrate though his chest, then the soft press of her cheek against his back.

 

Jim glared at the two of them, but he could hardly stay angry when his two darling cats were finally getting along.

 

Carefully, Sebastian lifted his chin up and shifted slightly, making enough room for Jim to slip in to join them. He chuffed at Jim, trying to lure him in by acting sweet.

 

Jim relented after a moment, making himself comfortable on the sofa. The moment he was, Sebastian draped a paw over Jim’s legs and dropped his chin onto his lap.

 

Andromeda regarded them for a moment, then hopped off of her perch of Sebastian’s back to settle in Jim’s lap. She circled for a few moments, then settled so that she was half laying on Sebastian’s paw and half on Jim, with her tail draped over Sebastian’s snout.

 

“I know you’d get along eventually,” Jim cooed softly, reaching out to scratch each of their ears.

 

* * *

 

 

Sebastian snubbed out his cigarette before returning into the bedroom from the balcony, shedding the light robe he’d thrown on as he did so. Jim was just coming out of the shower, having insisted on taking one after spending so long in bed together.

 

He hopped back into bed without bothering to do anything else, but Jim stopped to open the door before joining him. Andromeda followed him in, strutting the entire way to the bed. Even though they’d been getting along since she’d met his tiger side, they still both preferred that she remain outside when they had sex.

 

She leapt up onto the bed and immediately curled on Sebastian’s chest, forcing him to lay flat on his back.

 

Jim pouted, but curled up against Sebastian’s side regardless. He tossed an arm across Sebastian’s chest and over Andromeda, holding them both close. “It’s hardly fair. I got her, and now she only seems to want to cuddle with you,” he grumbled softly.

 

Sebastian chuckled and gave Jim a one armed squeeze, careful not to disturb either of them. “I’m sure she’s just making up for all that time she ignored me. She’ll even out soon enough,” he assured. He tilted his head to press a kiss to Jim’s hair.

 

Andromeda meowed loudly, clearly displeased that she wasn’t getting as much attention.

 

Jim couldn’t help but to smile faintly. He bent his arm to give her a few scratches. She purred in return, and settled her head against Sebastian’s chest.

 

“See? She still wants your attention,” Sebastian teased.

 

“I suppose she just wants a tiger skin bed,” Jim retorted, pouting into Sebastian’s shoulder.

 

Sebastian hummed and let his eyes flutter shut. “I’m fine with that, as long as it means I get to cuddle with my two kittens.”

 

“I’m not your kitten,” Jim replied quickly, cracking an eye open to glare at Sebastian.

 

“Yes you are.”

 

Andromeda mewed, as if to tell them to sleep.

 

“See? Even Andromeda agrees with me.”

 

“You’re insufferable,” Jim grumbled, closing his eye again. He wriggled around a little to make himself comfortable against Sebastian, then sighed.

 

“Love you too, kitten. Sleep well,” Sebastian murmured.

 

“You too,” Jim mumbled, already half asleep.

 

Andromeda mewed softly. Jim grunted softly in some sort of reply.

 

“Of course. You too, Andromeda,” Sebastian mumbled, giving her a pat before letting himself slip into sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> If Jim got a cat, it'd be a Norwegian Forest Cat.
> 
> I'm trying to get back into the swing of writing for the new year. I've had this one in my mind for a while, so I hope you enjoyed. Shout out to Stephanie for the title.


End file.
